Domestic appliance



Dec. 20, 1955 R. R. CANDOR DOMESTIC APPLIANCE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 20, 1952 INVENTOR. 1?. Can dor Robert BY Dec. 20, 1955 R. R. CANDOR DOMESTIC APPLIANCE INVENTOR. Robert R. Candor Fig. 2 M J'V% Dec. 20, 1955 R. R. CANDOR 2,727,315

I DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Filed Sepp. 20, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 fl|93 INVEN'I'OR.

Robert R. Cana'or I99 m g i k/ ZA United States Patent DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Robert R. Candor, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware This invention relates to a domestic appliance and more particularly to laundry dryers.

One of the problems of dryers is to dispose of the moisture vapor driven from the clothes. A desirable method of disposal is to conduct this moisture vapor out of the house or building to the outside atmosphere. Unfortunately most houses have no convenient provision for making such disposal.

A dryer disclosed in the application of Francis H. McCormick, S. N. 298,566, filed July 12, 1952, is provided with an air cooled condenser at the bottom outlet of the drum chamber. Such a condenser removes a substantial portion of the moisture discharged from the drum chamber and requires no plumbing and needs no provision for the disposal of moisture vapor to the outside atmosphere.

It is an object of my invention to take advantage of the combined great mass volume possible with the McCormick dryer and my dryer by providing an alternative arrangement in which the major parts and construction of both his and my dryers remain the same. Instead of a condenser I use a lint filter and all of the moisture laden air is blown through a flexible tube out of'the room to the outside atmosphere. Yet both types of dryers are capable of substantially interchangeable mass production of major parts. It is another object of my invention to provide improved protection for the clothes in a dryer to protect the clothes from damage in the event that the driving belts should break or any other part of the dryer fails to operate properly.

In the form shown 'these objects are attained by converting the condensing chamber of the McCormick dryer into a filter chamber by completely enclosing the condensing chamber excepting for its opening at the top 'and an outlet to which a flexible conduit is connected and through which the moisture laden air is blown. Intln's converted chamber, a lint filter removable from the front is provided between the top entrance and the discharge outlet of the converted condenser chamber. The lint filter is provided with a drawer front which seals thefront of the converted condenser chamber and permits ready removal of the lint filter for cleaning.

To protect the clothes in the event that the drum is not rotated while the heater is on there is provided a centrifugal switch on the motor which will stop the heating in the event that the motor does not operate and a centrifugal switch responsive to drum rotation independently of motor rotation also to control the heater. In addition to this the heater is also controlled by a thermostat to prevent overheating of the clothes.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following'description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a vertical sectional view partly diagrammatic taken substantially along the line 1-1 of Figures 2 and 3 of a laundry dryer embodying one form of my invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Figures 1 and 2; and

Figure 4 is a wiring diagram for the dryer.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a laundry dryer including a cabilnet having a U-shaped drum casing 22 having a bottom air and lint discharge collar 24. This U-shaped drum casing has an air inlet above the drum in the form of a series of small apertures 26 in the upper left hand corner of the casing. Within the drum casing 22 there is provided a perforated cylindrical drum 28 having three inwardly directed vanes or drag members 30 located 120 apart. The drum 28 is rotatably mounted upon the ball bearing 32 which is mounted upon the rear wall 34 of the drum casing 22. The drum 28 is connected to a large V-grooved pulley 36 connected by the V-belt 38 to a small pulley 40. This small pulley 40 is directly connected to a large pulley 42 which is connected by a V-belt 43 to a small pulley 44 provided upon it and of the drive shaft of the electric motor 46. The pulleys 40 and 42 are pulled by a spring 42a to maintain the belts tight as more fully disclosed in said McCormick application. The operation of the electric motor 46 through the pulleys and belts slowly rotates the drum 28 to tumble the clothes therein with the assistance of the vanes 30. The drum 28 is provided with a front entrance 48.

In the upper left hand corner of the drum chamber 22 there is provided heating means preferably comprising a pair of electric heaters 52 which are provided with reflectors 54. These heaters 52 heat the air flowing into the drum casing 22 through the inlet 26 while the reflector 54 directs the heat onto the clothes within the drum 28 through the perforations in its peripheral Wall. Only a few of the perforations are shown in the drawings. As a matter of fact the entire peripheral portion of the drum is substantially filled with as many perforations as this part of the drum can accommodate.

The cabinet is provided with a sheet metal base 56 and outer side walls 58 as well as an outer rear wall 60 and an outer front wall 62. The front wall is provided with a door 64 and a door opening which registers with the front opening 48 in the drum 28. Through these openings the clothes may be placed in the drum 28 to be dried and after drying they may be conveniently removed. The top of the dryer is provided with an outer top wall 66 which extends over the top wall 68 of the drum casing 22. This outer top wall includes a back splasher 70 which extends beyond the outer rear wall 60 as clearly shown in Figure 2. I

This much of the dryer may be made like the dryer previously mentioned and disclosed in the McCormick application. All of the parts so far described may be made the same as in the McCormick application, with the exception that the louvered opening 277 of the mixed air outlet 30 of said application are omitted from my application. Also the openings 271, 279 and 273 of said McCormick application are omitted from the front and rear walls of the drum casing in my application. To make these omissions in production it is merely necessary to omit several punching operations.

Instead of the condenser structure of the McCormick application there is provided a filter chamber beneath the collar 24. This filter chamber is formed by two vertical walls 74 and 76 having their upper edges in contact with the sides of the collar 24 and their rear edges provided with a flange which is sealed to the rear wall 34 of the drum chamber 22. The front edges of these vertical walls are sealed to the front wall 78 of the drum chamber 22. The front wall 78 between the vertical walls 74 and 76 is provided with an opening which is closed by a drawer front 80. This drawer 80 is directly connected to the tray-shaped lint filter 82 having its upper edges provided with flanges. These flanges of the lint filter 82 rest upon flanges 84 and 86 upon the vertical walls of the filter chamber 88. This filter chamber 88 is bounded on the top by the drum and on the bottom by the base 56. It is bounded on the sides by the vertical walls 74 and 76 and bounded at the rear by the rear wall 34 of the drum casing 22. It is bounded at the front by the drawer front 80. The opening in the front wall 78 is provided with a sealing gasket 90. This sealing gasket 90 is engaged by the rear face of the drawer front 80. By this arrangement the filter chamber is completely sealed excepting for the opening through the collar 24 and a discharge outlet to be described later.

To draw air through the drum chamber and to discharge the moisture laden air outside of the room into the outside atmosphere there is provided a centrifugal fan 92 located in the bottom portion of the filter chamber 88 adjacent the rear wall thereof. This fan 92 is driven by a small pulley 94 provided upon the opposite side of the rear wall 34 of the drum casing 22. This small pulley 94 is driven by the belt 43. The fan 92 has a centrally located air inlet 96 and a tangential outlet 98 to which is connected the tubing 121. This tubing 121 extends through the rear walls 34 and 36. It connects to flexible tubing 123 provided at the rear of the cabinet. This flexible tubing is relatively small in diameter and is small enough to fit between the adjacent wall 224 of the room and the rear wall of the cabinet beneath the overhanging portion of the back splasher 70. The back splasher therefore conceals from view the discharge conduit 123. The centrifugal fan 92 is capable of developing a sufficient discharge pressure so that only a relatively small diameter tube is required. This makes it possible to more easily connect to a convenient place of disposal to the outside atmosphere.

The air is drawn through an air circulating circuit as illustrated by the arrows. It flows into the drum chamber through the inlet 26 and through the perforations in the drum chamber to the filter chamber 88. It is drawn through the lint filter 82 into the inlet of the fan 92 and discharged through the tubing 121 and the flexible tubing 123 to the outside atmosphere. The lint filter 82 may be removed like a drawer without otherwise disturbing the dryer, by pulling out the drawer front so that the lint filter 82 may be readily cleaned.

In the event that one of the belts breaks or the motor 46 fails to operate it is desirable to provide a safety device to prevent the heaters 52 from damaging the clothes. Referring now more particularly to Figure 4 there is shown a circuit in which there are two live supply conductors 131 and 133. There is also provided a neutral conductor 135. The conductor 131 is connected to the switch contact 137. One cooperating switch contact 139 is connected by the conductor 141 to the push-pull switch contact 143. This stationary contact 143 cooperates with a movable contact 145 connected by the conductors 147 and 149 to the motor 151 of a timer 153. The motor 151 is also connected by the conductors 155 and 157 to the neutral conductor 135.

The conductor 147 also connects to a suitable form of motor protector 159 which is connected by a conductor 161 to one terminal of the main winding 163 of the motor 46. The second terminal of the main winding 163 is connected by the conductor 165 to the neutral conductor 135. The motor 46 is provided with a centrifugal mechanism 167 which controls the normally closed contact 169 and the normally open contact 171. The normally closed contact 169 connects the conductor 161 with the starting winding 173 as long as and whenever the motor 46 is below the balancing speed.

There is also provided a signal light 177 which is connected across the conductors 147 and 157 to indicate whenever the timer motor 151 is energized to indicate that the dryer is turned on. Connected between the conductors 131 and 155 is a manually operable switch 179 which is closed to light the fioodlight 181 to illuminate the interior of the drum 28 for assistance in removal of clothes from the drum. This circuit is also provided with an ultraviolet lamp 183 which generates ozone and which acts as a suitable substitute for sunlight upon the clothes.

The heaters 52 have one terminal connected by the thermostatic switch 185 to the supply conductor 133. When the interior of the drum casing is below a certain temperature the switch 185 will be closed to connect the heater 52 to the supply conductor 133. When the temperature rises above a predetermined safe desirable temperature limit, the switch 185 will be opened to disconnect the heater 52 from its supply conductor 133. The second terminal of the heater 52 connects to one of the terminals of the normally open switch 171. This switch 171 is only moved to closed position by the centrifugal mechanism 167 of the motor 26 when the motor 46 ro tates at substantially its normal speed.

This switch 171 is connected by a second conductor 189 to a second centrifugal switch 191. This second centrifugal switch 191 is driven by the belt 38. When the belt 38 operates it drives the centrifugal switch 191 and moves it to closed position. The centrifugal switch 191 opens whenever it is not rotated. If the motor 46 should fail to operate or either of the belts 38 or 42 should break, the drum 28 will not be rotated. This would endanger the clothes within the drum. The switch 191 however under such circumstances will remain open or be opened to prevent the energization of the heater 52 and possible damage to the clothes. The second terminal of the second centrifugal switch 191 is connected by the con ductor 193 to the switch contact 195.

The timer 153 is provided with a longitudinal removable and rotatable shaft 197 which is driven by the timer motor 151. At its front end it is provided with a dial knob 199. At an intermediate point it is provided with a peripheral cam 220 which has a long notch 222 effective in the off position to open both sets of switch contacts 137, 139 and 195. It has an intermediate projection 223 for closing the switch contacts 137 and 139 to energize thetimer motor, the lamps, and the driving motor 46. It has a long peripheral projection 226 for closing both sets of contacts 137, 109 and 195 to energize the heater circuit of the heater 52 in addition to the other circuits which were previously described as energized by the projection 223. The shaft 197 is also provided with a fixed disk 228 capable of moving the switch contact 145 into engagement with the stationary contact 143 when the dial knob 199 is pushed inwardly. The shaft 197 is provided with two spaced notches 230 cooperating with the spring pushed detent 232 to hold the shaft in either its inner or outer position. In the outer position as shown, the switch contacts 145 and 143 will be out of engagement while when the knob 199 is pushed in they will be in engagement. This arrangement makes it possible to stop the operation of the timer and the motor at any time.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A laundry dryer comprising: a cabinet having a drying chamber; an electric heater in said cabinet, clothes agitating means in said drying chamber; a motor for actuating said agitating means; said motor having starting and running windings and a centrifugal switch responsive to the rotation of said motor controlling said windings, a heater switch in series with said heater and actuated by said centrifugal switch into open. position clothes drying chamber; clothes agitating means in said chamber, a heater circuit including an electric heater for said chamber; an electric motor and transmission means connecting said motor and said agitating means for driving said agitating means; a timer having a timer motor actuating a longitudinally actuatable shaft and having an on and off switch responsive to longitudinal movement of said shaft; said electric motor and said timer being connected in a second circuit; a cam rotated by said shaft and having an off position, a cooling position and a heating position; switch means actuated by said cam and controlling said heater in said heater circuit, and controlling said second circuit in series with said timer motor and first named electric motor, and a centrifugal switch means connected in series with said heater circuit and responsive to the operation of said transmission means for closing said heater circuit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,100,710 Dendel Nov. 30, 1937 2,314,748 White Mar. 23, 1943 2,463,934 Allen Mar. 8, 1949 2,486,315 Morris Oct. 25, 1949 2,505,041 Gorsuch Apr. 25, 1950 2,548,313 Kaufman, II Apr. 10, 1951 2,577,104 Butler Dec. 4, 1951 2,583,850 Kaufman, II Jan. 29, 1952 2,590,808 Wagner Mar. 25, 1952 2,611,192 Huebsch Sept. 23, 1952 2,645,032 Hammell July 14, 1953 

